Awful murders near Annecy in the French Alps

Yes. It was inappropriate. I should not have got sidetracked like that.

I will ask Gransnet to delete those posts.

And I will try to avoid you on here Greatnan, and would be grateful if you would do the same with me.

And that goes for Charlotta too.

So you think saying everyone is racist about the French and putting on a smiley face was appropriate , do you?

jo It is o.k
No worries!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

It said on the news that the family had been in the UK for about ten years, came from Iraq.

jingle I wonder too why they didn't check to see if there were no signs of life in the adults. People are often still alive even when they look badly injured. I also read this morning that the eight year old girl was violently bashed around the head besides being shot in the shoulder. These poor children, the trauma they have endured.

Even in Briatin the police do sometimes not remove bodies from a murder scene until quite sometime after they are discovered. It depends on the situation. This car was in a rural location and they would be unlikely to want to move the bodie after dark because, even with lighting, it would throw deep shadows and they could inadvertently destroy vital forensic information.

Well said Great Nan

Typo - we will have lunch there.

I am staggered and saddened that such a tragic story could be treated with levity by any Gransnet members.
No, it won't affect my walking in the mountains but thank you for your concern. Annecy is about an hour's drive from here, but in fact Anno and I intend to have lunch their on Saturday. I expect it will be swarming with police.
I don't know why this family were murdered - but I have never heard of random attacks on any car in this area - that happens in Northern Spain, nea I r Barcelona.
I have lived in France since 2002 in many different departments, and everywhere I have been welcomed and treated with kindness and respect. I do not appreciate racist comments about any nation.

Four year olds don't need special seats, only a booster cushion. Not everyone keeps the rules. Some cars carry a child seat or booster cushion but no child.

A little lateral thinking wouldn't go amiss sometimes, grans. Grans don't always know best, especially when they weren't even there.

Let's just wait and see how the story unfolds before criticising anyone.

Poor, poor children. I thought when I first heard it was another maniac on the loose with a gun, but it looks as if there's more too it and they may have been targeted. It's horrendous.

(I'll be magnanimous and say I'm sure the French police are quite as good as ours. Even though most French would say they are superior.)

Maybe, just maybe, the French provincial police were told to keep their hands of the crime scene till the people from Paris arrived?
The way this story is unfolding certainly points towards orders from higher up, I think.
I, myself, would never under estimate the French Police.

In my opinion the ones who are always down on the police are usually the ones who are passive onlookers. Like the football crowds who could all have scored more goals. The French police in a country region are as well trained as any other country police force. This might have been the first time any of them had seen such violence close to and they were probably understaffed for such a crime.
I take it that the four year old girl was afraid to announce she was there- under her mother or father. I hope the sister pulls through then they will have each other.

DM reader indeed! We don't all read the Grauniad, nanaej...

Careful Jo , racisim et al !!! oerrr

I'm with you on this one jingl lot of gesturing and posing whilst waiting for the experts. The child would hear foreign voices and keep her head down

JO4 I suspect that the state of the people demonstrated that they were dead. Really there has to be some recogniton of others professional knowledge or i will think you are DM reader

It sounds like it may have been an armed robbery gone wrong

Nanaej they didn't open the doors to check the bodies for eight hours. How could they have known there wasn't still a shred of life left in any of them? Seems they were more taken up with wanting to solve the crime than helping the victims.

I am a little confused. I understand it was a British car so would have had a special seat for a 4 year old. Surely that should have alerted the police to look for a child?

It is a very tragic situation, especially for the two children who have to manage their lives after this trauma. I cannot imagine their horror. The French police spokesman on the radio sounded extremely shocked himself at what he had seen.

I do find it odd that so many of us non-experts appear quick to make comments about how things could have been done better...hindsight (along with lack of full facts) are wonderful things! I am sure if errors were made they will be investigated.

Hardly bears thinking about. How on earth is that poor child ever going to have a normal life ?
You are right crimson children do not behave like adults, sometimes children hide in cupboards when fire breaks out. Why was the elder child out of the car and others inside ? Cyclist probably saved elder child with prompt first aid.
What in God's name is this world coming to ?

Ah, now I understand - thanks J.

Now I really must switch this off and get back to the holiday preparations.

I think that was a second cyclist GillieB. He was overtaken by the cyclist who was shot.

A bit like a childs reaction to a house fire, perhaps. In traumatic circumstances children don't behave in an adult way.